Deeplinks Blog posts about International

Imagine going to court and potentially facing prison time over someone else’s comment in your blog. Thai webmaster Chiranuch Premchaiporn, also known by her online handle Jiew, has been facing that reality since her October 2010 arrest for violating the intermediary liability provisions of the 2007 Computer Crime Act and for "Lèse Majesté," or defamation of the Thai royal family. Jiew was not the author of the offending comments—she was the webmaster of the popular news site Prachatai that hosted them. In 2008, Prachatai published an interview with Chotisak Onsoong, a Thai man known for refusing to stand at attention during the Thai Royal Anthem—a dangerous political act in Thailand, but not technically a crime. The interview received huge attention, drawing over 200 comments from Thai citizens.

Last week, a spokesman for the Pakistani Ministry of Information Technology announced that Pakistan was blocking access to Twitter because the site had not removed links to a competition on Facebook to post cartoon images of the Muslim prophet Mohammed. Why Twitter and not Facebook? The spokesman went on to say that Facebook had agreed to address the Pakistani government’s concerns—Facebook later issued a statement saying they had blocked the content about the contest in Pakistan—but they viewed Twitter as recalcitrant.

“The government is in contact with Twitter and had asked them to remove the material. When they didn't, it was decided that the site would be blocked.”

Lino and Mario Bocchini, creators of the Brazilian parody website Falha de São Paulo, are currently appealing a court order that froze their domain two years ago. In September 2010, Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo filed a lawsuit against the Falha seeking financial compensation for mimicking their layout and copy-editing, and also for “moral damages” to its reputation as a news organization. While the financial indemnities were dropped, Falha’s domain remains frozen for unauthorized use of Folha’s intellectual property.

Senator Ron Wyden yesterday introduced a bill on the floor of the U.S. Senate demanding access to draft texts of international trade agreements under negotiation by the Office of the United States Trade Representative such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) that carry provisions that could severely choke off users' rights on the Internet around the world. This is a great positive step in the right direction.

The proposed bill, titled the "Congressional Oversight Over Trade Negotiations Act", calls for all Members of Congress, together with all of their staff with proper security clearance, to be given access to "documents, including classified materials, relating to negotiations for a trade agreement to which the United States may be a party and policies advanced by the Trade Representative in such negotiations."

Eurovision Song Contest Sets Stage for Online Protest

Last Thursday, Azeri hackers calling themselves Cyberwarriors for Freedom temporarily took down four different websites for the Eurovision Song Contest, which is being hosted by Azerbaijan this week. Hackers replaced the home pages with an Azeri-language message demanding that President Ilham Aliyev cancel the event. While they condemned the destruction of homes to make way for the Eurovision arena and the silencing of independent journalists, the hackers’ message also included homophobic language, calling the contest a “gay parade.”